According to a report from Life Style Extra, a Colt Python .357 Magnum, which was originally presented to Ian Fleming in 1964, is set to be auctioned off later this month.

Thought to have been made be a senior executive at the firm who was also a James Bond fan, the gun was presented to Fleming around the time he was working on his last 007 novel, The Man With The Golden Gun. The left side bears the engraving, ‘Presented to Ian Fleming by Colt’s Patent Fire Arms MFG. Co.’

Described as ‘highly collectible,’ the gun is expected to fetch as much as £15,000. It goes up for auction on Wednesday, 28 March, at the Bonham’s Fine Modern Sporting Guns and Vintage Firearms sale.

Bonhams spokesman Julian Roup said: ‘Ian Fleming took flak from critics who claimed he left Bond exposed and under-gunned with the Italian Beretta .25. In Doctor No, Bond abandoned the Beretta and took up a Walther PPK 7.65mm as his standard issue firearm.’

‘It was around the time that Fleming was writing The Man With The Golden Gun that Colt presented the .357 Magnum to him. But Fleming never armed his famous spy with the heavy Colt, perhaps because it would have spoiled the line of his immaculate dinner jacket, while the PPK was smaller and easier to conceal.’